We're set up for a while, although I don't see this one going as long as the one in 2013. I'm guessing that early next week congress will vote to pass a continuing resolution to get us to that February 8 date. Past that, they'll either have to strip the DACA stuff out of the budget bill, or add funding for the wall. And even if they did that, I don't think the Republicans will pass anything now with any reference to DACA in it, out of spite.

Historically, civilian federal employees have always received back pay after a furlough has ended, but that requires the President's approval, so assuming that this President will do what every other President in history has done is, at best, a coin toss. And when/if you do get the back pay, it comes on the first full paycheck after the furlough ends. Let's say the furlough started February 1 and lasted two weeks. I'd go back to work on the 15th, but wouldn't get paid anything on the 21st (for the first to weeks of February). Then on March 7, I'd get paid for the first two weeks of February (while I was on furlough status) and the last two weeks of February. (I'm pretty sure this gets taxed at a higher rate, but I don't complain.) So even though you do eventually get reimbursed, the game quickly becomes, how long can you live on what you have saved up in the bank. I know a lot of people who live paycheck to paycheck and had trouble last time. We learned our lesson that time and put a couple months' worth of salary in the bank in case it happened again.

As far as personalities go I think Oprah would probably win a humanitarian award long before Donald Trump, but I'm not sure any celebrity, no matter how likable, should become President. I don't know where this idea came from that the only way to affect change in this country is to become president. Let someone who has read the Constitution be in charge, and let's appoint Oprah as the head of National Weight Watchers and put Donald Trump as the Chief of Making Very Good Deals and let people with a calmer demeanor and a little bit of experience be in charge of the nuclear launch codes.

I think a large part of what got Donald Trump the nomination and Presidency is that the voters in this country were sick of the obvious corruption from almost literally every single elected official. Certainly every elected official at the Congress level. Somehow in this country it's 100% totally legal for a corporation like Verizon to give tens of thousands of dollars to someone who got elected the representative of Shithox County, Colorado and that politician, being the good little soldier he is, will vote however Verizon tells him to. Multiply that mindset by all the other issues that people who aren't tech nerds care about. But a child of four would identify that as corruption. It's fucking corruption, no different than the mafia demanding protection money.

They are virtually all corrupt.

The people that got Trump on the ticket were in part sick of this, they were all just too stupid to maybe pick someone that wasn't a petulant child. Oh, and they were also too stupid to understand that maybe a multi-millionaire whose interests in getting elected were in making life for other multi-millionaires may not be precisely the non-institutionalized non-politician they were looking for, but hey, Tom Brady, Keanu Reeves, John Cena, Oprah and countless other rich-but-nice-people weren't running. If I were bound and determined to vote Republican, as in, I HAD to, I would have voted for Trump over Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, too. I still would.

Maybe the lesson being taken from this is that you need a bigger celebrity. A year in, the only way Oprah could do a worse job would be if she actually launched the missiles. How the fuck does the government shut down when you control Congress and the executive office? At least when it happened to Obama it's because they were all virulent racists. What a bunch of failures.

It reminds me of those small town sheriffs that drive "undesirable" people out of their town. Totally corrupt, totally illegal, totally immoral... and probably an effective way of keeping the crime rate down. (Unless, you know, John Rambo shows up.) I think every part of the government is so infiltrated with corruption that a zillion gallons of Raid wouldn't get rid of all the tie-wearing cockroaches. The whole system is corrupt, and... it works. Promising to "drain the swamp" was a brilliant platform to run on. It's just unfortunate that (a) it's impossible to do, and (b) people actually believed he (or anyone) could do it. You can't remove corruption from the government; the government is corruption. It's like having a cop fly past you on the interstate and hoping that another cop will pull him over and write him a ticket. It's fun to wish that would happen, but it won't. Trump shoots himself in the foot five times a week on Twitter, and knows more about In-and-Out's secret menu than the Constitution.

If there is a polar opposite to Donald Trump on the likability scale, it's probably Oprah Winfrey. Donald Trump has the ability to walk into a room and offend people by simply showing his face. Oprah has the opposite effect. She wouldn't make offensive nicknames for her enemies and world leaders, and it would be entertaining to see her standing on the front steps of the White House during the annual Easter Egg Hunt shouting, "You get an egg! And YOU get an egg!" But at the end of the day, Oprah doesn't know any more about navigating the ins and outs of the government than Trump.

If the dummies of this country want to elect someone unfit for office, they should at least elect somebody poor. People are surprised when rich people in office pass bills that benefit other rich people. Let's elect somebody poor next time. A poor President is not going to pass tax breaks for billionaires. Poor people are going to pass bills that give all of us free tacos on Taco Tuesday and make Freebird the national anthem. If we're going to torch everything, let's at least make it interesting.

You are incorrect. I may have mentioned this on Caltrops rather than here but at least six months ago I mentioned that Oprah had announced she was marrying Steadman so by now he is her husband.

Oprah Winfrey is not married to Stedman Graham. They are not engaged to get married, nor do they ever plan to get married. Does it ever occur to you to use Google and verify what you are saying is true when you call out people to correct them? I mean, I know what you are going to say -- "I didn't know" -- but I didn't know either. Fortunately I was able to juggle a few things around in my schedule and free up the three seconds it took to find out whether or not Oprah is married.

Probably sound like a broken record here, but I've never voted for a republican or a democrat for president, and I actually pay attention to my local candidates and vote for them based on character/record with disregard to party.

I'd never tell anyone how to vote, but I do question the thinking process (or lack thereof) of anyone who votes "straight ticket".

I think a large part of what got Donald Trump the nomination and Presidency is that the voters in this country were sick of the obvious corruption from almost literally every single elected official. Certainly every elected official at the Congress level. Somehow in this country it's 100% totally legal for a corporation like Verizon to give tens of thousands of dollars to someone who got elected the representative of Shithox County, Colorado and that politician, being the good little soldier he is, will vote however Verizon tells him to. Multiply that mindset by all the other issues that people who aren't tech nerds care about. But a child of four would identify that as corruption. It's fucking corruption, no different than the mafia demanding protection money.

They are virtually all corrupt.

The people that got Trump on the ticket were in part sick of this, they were all just too stupid to maybe pick someone that wasn't a petulant child. Oh, and they were also too stupid to understand that maybe a multi-millionaire whose interests in getting elected were in making life for other multi-millionaires may not be precisely the non-institutionalized non-politician they were looking for, but hey, Tom Brady, Keanu Reeves, John Cena, Oprah and countless other rich-but-nice-people weren't running. If I were bound and determined to vote Republican, as in, I HAD to, I would have voted for Trump over Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, too. I still would.

Maybe the lesson being taken from this is that you need a bigger celebrity. A year in, the only way Oprah could do a worse job would be if she actually launched the missiles. How the fuck does the government shut down when you control Congress and the executive office? At least when it happened to Obama it's because they were all virulent racists. What a bunch of failures.

My god is this how much of a goddamn idiot you are when I'm not here to check you?

the last group complained, quite tellingly They said, "Why don't you have a spoon that just says 'Earth?' It would save time

Things are going fine. It annoys me my brother fled the Socialist and post racial paradise of NY to go hide in Colorado then purport to be a liberal and man of diversity. Blaming government shutdowns on racism. All while running a site/bbs since 1991 that has had nothing but a series of blubbery upper middle class white people. The only minority remotely involved had to be picked up in a Chinese Airport. Bemoan that you can't say anything on the internet anymore without some jackass SJW trying to get you fired.. then we get a President who talks shit on the internet and he is appalled. Robb should be much better and more original than this.

Christ Paul sounds like the sane one around here.

the last group complained, quite tellingly They said, "Why don't you have a spoon that just says 'Earth?' It would save time

totally agree with you on that, shutdown had nothing to do with racism at all, just same ol' power politics with newly mixed in Trump Zaniness. I couldn't give a shit if the government is "open" or not unless someday i want to get off my ass and get a passport or something. The IRS can shut down every day please, those fuckers.

Bemoan that you can't say anything on the internet anymore without some jackass SJW trying to get you fired.. then we get a President who talks shit on the internet and he is appalled. Robb should be much better and more original than this.

Absolutely, #m e e t o o jumped the shark almost as it started . . . just . . . waiting . . . for . . . backlash . . . to . . . begin. There was one quote that floored me in the Rob Porter thing, some congressman said something to the effect that, "anyone accused of domestic violence shouldn't have a job - ANYWHERE". WTF is he saying? Someone can be a murderer, do his time, and get out and go work at walmart but this guy thinks that someone not even convicted of abuse shouldn't be allowed to work (and probably support the accuser). Right, it's better for him to be homeless and her not to get another dime. What a fucktard.